a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
children
בָנִ֑יםva.Nim
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
crown
עֲטֶ֣רֶת'a.Te.ret
H5850
a crown · noun, common feminine singular construct
men
זְ֭קֵנִיםZe.ke.nim
H2205
old · adjective, masculine plural absolute
glory
וְתִפְאֶ֖רֶתve.tif.'E.ret
H8597
ornament (abstractly or concretely · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
children
בָּנִ֣יםba.Nim
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
fathers
אֲבוֹתָֽם'a.vo.Tam
H1
father · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 127:3-5 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Proverbs 16:31 The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.
Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
Psalms 128:3-6 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Exodus 3:14-15 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Genesis 50:23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s kne…
1 Kings 11:12 Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
1 Kings 15:4 Nevertheless for David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:6
They are so, that is, they should be so, and, if they conduct themselves worthily, they are so. 1. It is an honour to parents when they are old to leave children, and children's children, growing up, that tread in the steps of their virtues, and are likely to maintain and advance the reputation of their families. It is an honour to a man to live so long as to see his children's children (Psa 128:6; Gen 50:23), to see his house built up in them, and to see them likely to serve their generation according to the will of God. This crowns and completes their comfort in this world. 2. It is an honour to children to have wise and godly parents, and to have them continued to them even after they hav…
Prolonged posterity is a blessing, its cutting off a curse (Pro 13:22; Psa 109:13-15), hence children may glory in virtuous ancestry.
John Gill on Proverbs 17:6
Children's children are the crown of old men,.... Ancient parents. Grandfathers with the Jews are called old men, as Buxtorf (d) observes. A numerous progeny was reckoned a great blessing to a man; to have his table surrounded with children, as olive plants; to be encircled with a large family was a crown of glory (e); and to live to see children's children, a large number of grandchildren, was still a greater glory; and especially, as Jarchi observes, when these children, or children's children, were walking in a good way, in the good ways of religion and godliness, they trained them up in. Christ is the Ancient of days, the everlasting Father; and it is his glory, as Mediator, to see his s…
With this verse this series of proverbs closes as it began:
A diadem of the old are children's children,
And the glory of children are their parents.
Children are a blessing from God (Ps 127-128); thus, a family circle consisting of children and grandchildren (including great-grandchildren) is as a crown of glory surrounding the grey-haired patriarch; and again, children have glory and honour in their parents, for to have a man of an honoured name, or of a blessed memory, as a father, is the most effective commendation, and has for the son, even though he is unlike his father, always important and beneficial consequences. In 6b a fact of experience is expressed, from which has proceeded the…
The Church Fathers
The crown of old men is the children of children, etc. He calls the patriarchs and prophets old men, who are celebrated with worthy praise by the children of children, that is, by the successors of the apostles; and it is a glory of the preachers of the New Testament that they have deserved to be sons of the old fathers.
We must regard the woman's crown to be her husband, and the husband's crown to be marriage; and the flowers of marriage the children of both, which the divine husbandman plucks from meadows of flesh. "Children's children are the crown of old men." And the glory of children is their fathers, it is said; and our glory is the Father of all; and the crown of the whole church is Christ.
And instead of that joy, which a man experiences from the possession of a single field or house, he will enjoy a delight in riches a hundred times greater, if he passes over to the adoption of sons of God, and possesses as his own all things which belong to the eternal Father, and asserts in heart and soul after the fashion of that true Son: "All things that the Father hath are mine;" and if no longer tried by that criminal anxiety in distractions and cares, but free from care and glad at heart he succeeds everywhere to his own, hearing daily the announcement made to him by the Apostle: "For all things are yours, whether the world, or things present, or things to come;" and by Solomon: "The faithful man has a whole world of riches."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Only those who have been blessed with a long life live to become grandparents, and the continuation of the family line is a sign of God’s blessing (see Gen 12:1-3). • parents: Literally fathers. This proverb applies to both fathers and mothers.
Rashi on Proverbs 17:6
the crown of the aged when they see their children’s children going on the good way.
and the glory of the children is their fathers When their fathers are righteous, it is glory for the children.
